The date the press argued about
Three starting dates circulated: 8 September, 15 September and "in 15 days". The ordinance decides it itself: its final provision specifies fifteen working days after publication of the full text in the gazette, which appeared on 24 August 2026. That period ends on 14 September; the ordinance is in force on Tuesday 15 September 2026 — as Diario de Avisos and La Gaceta de Canarias also report. From this follow the dates that matter: restrictions from 15 March 2028, fines from 15 September 2029.
Three groups — and most people are in the first
Free access with no formality goes, under Annex II, to vehicles with the label 0 emissions, ECO, C or B, and to mopeds, bicycles, other cycles and personal mobility vehicles. The annex does not name motorcycles separately; for them the label counts.
Prior registration in the municipal register is enough for residents, emergency, police and utility vehicles, taxis and buses, disabled parking cards and historic vehicles. An applied-for permit is needed by garage owners (three vehicles per space, not simultaneously), businesses and self-employed people inside the perimeter, deliveries, school runs, medical and veterinary visits, carers, large families, hotel guests and trips to the test centre.
Who is affected
Only category A is restricted: vehicles with no label. Which those are is decided not by the council but by the state labelling system of the Vehicle Regulations; broadly it catches petrol cars before 2001 and diesels before 2006. For Santa Cruz, Atlántico Hoy, citing DGT figures for 2025, gives a fleet of 182,362 vehicles, of which 51,390 have no label.
Those who cannot afford a new car can invoke article 13.8: if household income is below twice the IPREM threshold and the owner has no second labelled vehicle, a permit is granted for two years. All procedures are free under article 13.9 and must be decided within ten working days.
The roadworthiness condition
Article 13.6 reads: "Todos los vehículos autorizados deberán tener la inspección técnica de vehículos (ITV), cuando proceda, y el seguro obligatorio en vigor durante todo el periodo de validez de la autorización." Anyone holding a permit therefore needs a valid ITV throughout — where one is required — and compulsory insurance in force.
The claim that this is a first comes not from the council but from the trade association AECA-ITV: on 1 September 2026 it declared Santa Cruz the first Spanish municipality to require this of vehicles entitled to enter. The association represents the test-centre operators and had itself filed submissions that went into the final text — it is an interested party, not neutral. The key point: the condition attaches to the permit, not to entry. Drivers with label B, C, ECO or 0 do not fall under article 13.6.
The court case
According to Diario de Avisos of 12 September 2026, the residents' associations El Toscal de las Tribulaciones and El Perenquén challenged the ordinance on 1 September 2026. The paper names the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands — it sounds unusual but is correct: under article 10.1.b of Law 29/1998 its administrative chambers rule on challenges to general provisions of local authorities.
The associations argue the model not only limits freedom of movement but also harms small retailers inside the perimeter — so Diario de Avisos reports the president of El Perenquén, Silvia Barrera. The council defends the legality and points to article 14.3.a of Climate Act 7/2021, which requires low-emission zones in municipalities above 50,000 inhabitants, and to the 2024 readings. Two earlier actions by Vox and El Perenquén were dismissed by the court of first instance on 26 May 2026; both rulings are appealable. No party has so far reported any suspension.